Perris trying to lure In-n-Out to town with social media campaign

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Customers arrive at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Riverside in January 2017. Perris has started a social media campaign hoping to lure the burger chain to its city. (File photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

“We just want to show In-N-Out ‘we want you here in Perris,’” Williams said. “We’re very excited about the attention the social media campaign is bringing. It’s creating a lot of positive vibe from the community.”

The campaign started May 11 and as of Friday, May 25, Williams said it had more than 36,000 hits with hundreds of reposts, shares and likes with residents posting videos and photos of their own In-N-Out moments, as well as their feedback on where the restaurant should be located. Entries for the most creative post and most likes will be accepted until Friday, June 1, and the winners will be recognized at the City Council meeting June 12.

“The campaign has generated the most popular posts in the city’s history and has definitely stirred up a sense of camaraderie in our communities,” she said. “The exercise has inspired other ideas for joint marketing efforts that the city will pursue with residents for other businesses that we would like to bring into the city.”

Williams said the city has had some talks with the burger company and is hoping they will come to fruition.

“They have not committed to anything at this point,” she said, adding if an agreement is made, don’t expect to be eating a Double-Double in Perris this year. “They are very preliminary conversations. They know about the community interest.”

Denny Warnick, vice president of operations for In-N-Out said the company appreciates hearing that customers would like to have an In-N-Out Burger location nearer to them.

“While we don’t have any plans to open a restaurant in the city of Perris in the near future, we are aware that it is a great community and we are delighted to hear that we have so many loyal customers there,” he wrote in an email Friday.

A worker on a cherry picker works on an In-N-Out Burger sign in Westminster in August. Perris hopes the burger restaurant will open in its city. (File photo by Sam Gangwer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Williams said there are a number of good locations in Perris for In-N-Out to consider.

“We have six freeway exits along the 215, we’re pushing a few that make sense,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities for them to grow along the 215 corridor.”

If In-N-Out were to come, it would join a number of fast food restaurants in Perris. Many, such as McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. and Subway, are near Nuevo Road in the middle of the city. Jack in the Box has three locations and Farmer Boys is close to the Lake Perris Fairgrounds.

There also are a number of locally owned restaurants.

But there seems to be something about In-N-Out, which was selected as America’s favorite quick service restaurant for the second year in a row in 2018. Cars line out into the street from about 4 p.m. past midnight at the Hemet location and other restaurants have similar long lines.

Williams said Perris has enough people to support In-N-Out. There are 76,000 residents and more than 10,600 new housing units approved or under construction that would add approximately 30,000 new residents.

And Williams said the city attracts 3 million visitors each year to take advantage of recreational amenities such as the lake, fairgrounds and skydiving.

Craig Shultz reports on communities in Riverside County, primarily Hemet, Menifee, Perris and San Jacinto. A journalist for more than three decades, he has reported on everything from sports to city halls and schools. He was previously the editor of The Hemet News and The Valley Chronicle. Shultz was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and graduated from Cal State Northridge.